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I didn't down vote you but I did find your post shrill and confronting thanks to your use of crazy capitalization. > THE SOLUTION IS OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE that

by abraae 7y ago

I didn't down vote you but I did find your post shrill and confronting thanks to your use of crazy capitalization. > THE SOLUTION IS OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE that will disrupt the landlords of the Web (Facebook, Google, Amazon etc.) as much as the Web once disrupted the landlords of the Internet (AOL, MSN, Compuserve). Using capitals like this implies to me that you are not making a reasoned argument, otherwise your points would stand on their own rather than BEING BLASTED INTO MY FACE.

EGreg 7y ago
Reasoned arguments can involve EMPHASIS. It’s only a choice of typography how to express it.
- abraae 7y ago
  You are the one who asked about downvotes. By all means use all bold, comic sans font, and flashing red text. But don't be surprised when people react negatively to it.
Shorel 7y ago
I dislike that this meme from IRC became so commonly repeated. I did not agree with it 20 years ago when just a few people repeated it, and I do not agree with it now. Capitals were wonderfully used by Pratchett as the voice of one of the characters in written text. And the late Christopher Lee did a wonderful interpretation of that character. Cyrillic letters for example resemble capitals in that they have a constant height and are generally more square and if anything that doesn't make them more difficult to read, just different. Actual shouting hurts my ears. It is about a thousand times more annoying than reading capital letters. I think the real equivalent of shouting in a text media is the hated blink tag. With some bright neon colours. On black background. In a dark room.
- abraae 7y ago
  I think it's not about readability but rather about context and the audience. On HN all caps is uncommon and, I would venture, considered somewhat aggressive/rude. IMO HN is somewhat of a bastion of courtesy and reasoned debate, a rarity on the internet today. Long may it remain so.

by abraae 7y ago

EGreg 7y ago

Reasoned arguments can involve EMPHASIS. It’s only a choice of typography how to express it.

abraae 7y ago
You are the one who asked about downvotes. By all means use all bold, comic sans font, and flashing red text. But don't be surprised when people react negatively to it.

Shorel 7y ago

I dislike that this meme from IRC became so commonly repeated. I did not agree with it 20 years ago when just a few people repeated it, and I do not agree with it now. Capitals were wonderfully used by Pratchett as the voice of one of the characters in written text. And the late Christopher Lee did a wonderful interpretation of that character. Cyrillic letters for example resemble capitals in that they have a constant height and are generally more square and if anything that doesn't make them more difficult to read, just different. Actual shouting hurts my ears. It is about a thousand times more annoying than reading capital letters. I think the real equivalent of shouting in a text media is the hated blink tag. With some bright neon colours. On black background. In a dark room.

abraae 7y ago
I think it's not about readability but rather about context and the audience. On HN all caps is uncommon and, I would venture, considered somewhat aggressive/rude. IMO HN is somewhat of a bastion of courtesy and reasoned debate, a rarity on the internet today. Long may it remain so.